The Pouring Rain
by AmyC103
Summary: Just something short about Tenten dealing with her parents death, and how she came to fall in love with Neji. Tenten


**Okay, so I wanted to try something a little new. This is a one chapter deal, and its about Tenten and Neji. I hope you all like it! But, like I said, its something from pure randomness. Enjoy!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

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Rain pelted down on the village, casting a gloomy shadow over the people standing to pay their respects. Each held a white flower in their hand and patiently waited their turn to place the flower atop the two coffins.

"Since my parents died, I've always been alone. I had my friends, yes, but even then, I still felt alone. I had nothing to look forward to, other then something to get me out of that dreadful house. Without my mothers singing, the silence would suffocate me. Without fathers delicious cooking, the smell would make me sick. Everything about that house just seemed dead to me."

People passed, saying small comforting words, of placing their hands on the deceased child's shoulder. The girl wept silently for her lost parents. Friends tried to get her to talk, or to eat, but the depressed girl stayed locked up in her house, only coming out to buy food once a week.

"My friends tried to do anything they could for me. But nothing ever seemed to help. I hated it when they knocked on my door, asking if I was going to come out to play today. They knew I wouldn't, so why couldn't they just leave me alone? One was more pesky then the others. He told me that he would make everything better if I just came out. He would sit by my front door and just talk. About anything and everything. I hated him the most.

"But everyday I sat in the shoe room waiting to hear his voice."

Thunder boomed and lightning crackled in the sky. The sudden flash of light on this light less day showed the girl that she was not alone, yet. The ones that were her age were still around. No one was talking, and all stood in a line with their heads bowed in respect. Rain pour down on all of the children, soaking them to the bone. Another flash of light showed a man standing on the edge of the group of children. With another flash, it showed more adults standing beside the group of children.

"I still remember them all... standing there in the rain with me. I tried and tried, but could never understand why they were all just standing there with their heads bowed. My teachers, and my friends. Even some of the kids parents showed up. I still don't understand. My parents were nobodies. They didn't have friends, they never did anything to get that much attention at their funeral. I remember thinking that I just wanted to be alone with them. I remember yelling at them in my head to go away. Not one of them left, though. Not one."

A hand gently squeezed the girls shoulder, not letting go. She didn't look up, she knew who it was. He was always the one to comfort her when she was hurting. That was all he did, was try to help her. He thought she was to weak to be able to do anything on her own, he never helped the boys like he helped her. Tears ran down her face, mixing with the rain.

"My teacher... He was... different. He expected more then anyone could give, he expected the impossible. But I think that is what we needed back then. I think we needed someone to help us push to be the best, and to do what we never thought we ever could. He always treated me differently, though. He didn't expect as much from me as he did the other two. It made me so mad. I pushed myself harder then I ever could have, just because of that. When he tried to comfort me at the funeral, it felt like he was laughing at me. Thats what I felt, not comfort, but humiliation. I remember wanting to scream."

Lightning ripped across the sky, making everything glow once more. The girl watched the people that called her their friend. They still stood their with their hands folded and their faces down. The adults stand with their chins up, but their eyes closed. Showing a different kind of respect then the children show. The children didn't know the people who died, but the adults did. They knew the sacrifice the two parents made.

"I wish I could have known then what I know now. So much would be different. When I locked myself up in that awful house, I think I snapped. I played with my fathers cooking knifes, and I tried on my moms clothes. I didn't want to ever forget them, so I pulled their favorite things into my life, so that I would never forget them. I tried to learn how to cook, and I tried to wear some of the things mother wore. But I failed at both. I was good at using the knives, but I always burnt the food. Mothers clothing was way to big for me, and if I tried to hem one of her dresses, I would ruin it completely. I was so angry with myself for not being able to do what they used to do. I was so, so angry with myself."

Water dripped from the girls face as she slowly made her way back to her empty house. She couldn't do anything right. Her parents are dead, she couldn't save them. She couldn't cook. She couldn't be a lady and do something as simple as hemming a dress. In her parents eyes, she would be a failure. Maybe thats why they left... maybe it is because they don't love her.

"I really thought for a time that they never loved me. Thats really when I started playing around with the knives for other usage then cooking. I started throwing them when I got mad. I remember throwing one of the knives so hard it shattered one of the cabinets. I made a target in my backyard, and threw the knives at that. I hit the center every time. I practiced every day, using smaller targets. Every time I could hit the center of a target five times in a row, I would make it smaller. No one could beat me when it came to target practice. It became my passion. I wanted to compete against others. That was the first time in almost a year I left my house other then to go to the market for food."

"What did you do when you left the house?"

"I went to the training fields. All of the others my age were there, even that annoying one who still sat on my doorstep talking for an hour straight every day. I still remember the shock on his face when I challenged him. I beat him, of course. He was so hooked on getting that other girl to see how good he is, he kept messing up. I called him a loser and went home. The next day, I went back to the training fields and challenged someone else. I beat everyone in my age group. There was no one who could match my ability. Until he came along... he was the only one."

"Who? Did he beat you? What happened then?"

"Yes, he beat me. I was so enraged by it, too. I ended up punching him so hard he flew into and broke the target. I didn't return to the training field for two weeks after that. I practiced in my back yard for those whole two weeks, making myself become better. When I returned, he was there. He was waiting for me. He asked me what took me so long. He had that stupid smirk that still gives me the butterflies. He beat me again, though. But before I stormed off, he asked if we could practice together. The next day, we did. We became quite close, we were even put on the same team. I spent more of my time with him then I did alone. I liked being with him, he made me feel wanted. I no longer felt so alone. I dreaded returning home, because I knew he wouldn't be there. And because I knew I would be alone once again."

"What did you do?"

"What did I do? I did what I wanted to do in the first place. I changed my clothing, I bought clothes like mother used to wear, instead of ruining her old ones. I knew I could wear those when I grew into them. I put away fathers knives and took out his kunai, instead. I met up with that boy everyday when the sun rose, and we were together until after it set. Sometimes our group would have missions, and we would get to spend even more time with each other. By the time I was thirteen, I knew I was in love with him. He was everything that I held dear to me by then. I forgot about the pain I had from my parents dying. He explained to me that they wouldn't want me to hurt for so long, and I knew he was right. I knew they would want me to move on and be happy."

"What did you do about your feelings for him? Did you ever get together?"

"I didn't need to do anything about them. He came to me on a summer after noon and told me he loved me. We both had just turned eighteen. I remember the joy I had felt on that day. He was so blunt about it, too. He just came up to me when I was sitting on that hill watching the clouds and told me he loved me. Just like that. No leading up to it, no silence before. He just walked up and stood there looking down at me. Just like that, and blurted it out. I had never felt like such a girl at that moment. I had jumped up and tackled him to the ground, shouting that I loved him, too. We had rolled down the hill together and laughed. His hair was such a mess, it looked worse then mine did when I woke up in the morning."

"Did you ever get married? What happened after? Please, Tenten-Chan! Tell us!"

The women chuckled. "Of course we did."

"I hope I'm not interrupting," The door slid open. Neji walked in with a small smile at seeing his wife with her class sitting around her feet as she sat in the rocking chair.

"Of course not," Tenten smiled.

"Tenten-Chan! Is that him! The one from the story?"

Tenten smiled and rubbed her swollen stomach. "Yes, it is."

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**Well, there you have it! I hope you all liked it! Please review!!!**


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